The Vitamin A problem in the Philippines

Vitamin A continues to be a leading cause of micronutrient deficiency, blindness, and eye disorders in the Philippines. Among children six months to six years of age, the prevalence of nightblindness is 0.7% and of Bitot's spots 0.2% (UNICEF, 1992). Certain communities (remote rural barangays or villages, urban slums) and population groups (children from large families, with poorly educated mothers, from unlanded farms or small/hired fishing households) are considered at higher risk than others. The Aetas possess a number of these factors and their children are considered at high risk for vitamin A deficiency.

The current management strategy of the Department of Health is to provide 200,000 IU of vitamin A in a capsule every six months to children suffering from or at high risk of developing the deficiency (those who are mildly, moderately, or severely malnourished; those with chronic diarrhea or recent measles). However, this policy is more curative in approach, seeking to correct the deficiency when it already exists. Recently, a campaign was launched to administer vitamin A capsules to all children and pregnant women, with or without the deficiency. As in other interventions of this nature, problems of supply and distribution influence its effective implementation. Moreover, administration of large doses of vitamin A must be adequately supervised because of the danger of toxicity.